Barcelona, down a man, battles to secure draw against Girona

Barcelona managed a 2-2 draw after fighting hard to overcome a 1-2 deficit against Girona following the expulsion of Clement Lenglet, but not the win they craved for at Camp Nou.

Both the Girona goals were scored by Uruguayan Christian Stuani here on Sunday, reports Efe.

Girona came out with a vengeance, with Bernardo heading its first shot on goal just two minutes into play, but Marc-Andre Ter Stegen blocked it. It then dominated the first 15 minutes of play, with Lionel Messi driving toward the goal in the 12th minute, powering right to left across the pitch and leaving three rival players behind along the way, although Bono managed to deflect the shot.

Seven minutes later, however, Chile's Arturo Vidal made a beautiful and perfect pass to Messi, which the latter converted on a powerful shot, getting the home squad on the board and scoring his eighth tally in six games.

In the 35th minute, Pere Pons collided knee to knee with Lenglet and, upon consultation, the referee concluded that the Frenchman had committed a red-card fowl by purposefully elbowing his rival in the face and sent him packing.

Pique was to blame for allowing Girona's first goal, however, after he made a lackadaisical attempt at a clearance that enabled Stuani to take Aday Benitez's cross and tap the ball past Ter Stegen for the equalizer.

After the break, Pique was once again the one largely responsible for allowing the visitors to go ahead, first being outrun by Portu and then bringing the striker down from behind on an apparent uncalled penalty, although Portu sprang up and fired - with Ter Stegen deflecting the shot right to Stuani, who popped the rebound into the top of the net.

In the 62nd minute, Messi and Luis Suarez were on hand to try for another tally, but the latter's shot went awry and Pique - redeeming himself - scored on a header to salvage the draw from the jaws of a sure defeat.

With the result, Barcelona saw their perfect La Liga record this season busted and lost their two-point advantage in the standings over Real Madrid, but they did manage to return to the No. 1 spot in the table, albeit only on goal difference.

Girona, meanwhile, moved up to sixth place after the match played before some 76,000 fans on a very hot and humid Barcelona night.

--IANS

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